[RIGGING ADVICE] Will this game model have any rigging issues going forward?

ivanlyw

hey guys, working on a game character, wanting to make this animatable and I am concerned with the shoulder's rotation due to hard surface armor in the way of the clavicle. I am very new to rigging, so if anyone with any game rigging experience, I would appreciate if there would be any issues with rigging going forward with this model, or if there is an issue and any solutions for it? first time making a game ready real time character. I received some feedback within my group of friends and that was the main concern regarding the shoulder movement rotation and when it rotates upwards. Any feedback would be appreciated. I really want an animation of the character taking off the helmet, which is why the shoulder would be really important during rigging. Thank you.

The link to the orginal polycount post regarding design and my work in progress is here, do leave some feedback if any, it will be much appreciated!
https://polycount.com/discussion/219114/wip-sci-fi-rescue-spacelady#latest

carvuliero

Shoulder is the big one but is not alone forearm waist hip and ankle joint could give you trouble .Why dont you go though you model and mark what is hard and what soft and post front side and back view .Mind you fixing issues will require design changes and/or splitting big part in to smaller or you can ignore everything and have rubber metal or metal rubber

ivanlyw

carvuliero said:

Shoulder is the big one but is not alone forearm waist hip and ankle joint could give you trouble .Why dont you go though you model and mark what is hard and what soft and post front side and back view .Mind you fixing issues will require design changes and/or splitting big part in to smaller or you can ignore everything and have rubber metal or metal rubber

Thanks for the feedback, here are some screenshots for what is hard and soft, The red parts are hard while the blue parts are soft. I got some advice from my discord mates that maybe i could swap out the shoulder hard piece with something softer. 

ivanlyw

Also sorry for the late reply, I am enlisting into national service soon and I did not have much time to reply.

Notink

Hi @ivanlyw ^^

I'm not a pro in rigging but I found this animation reel from Mass Effect 2 and as you can see the shoulder's armor is always separated to move independently from the rest of the armor. Maybe you could clearly separate the shoulder piece by changing a bit the design or you can do everything with soft parts. I hope that it helps

Alex_J

i don't expect any issue. i am practicing some rigging right now, if you want me to make a quick rig to test it as it i'm happy too. only realistic restriction i see if maybe arm shouldn't go overhead because that requires twisting the clavicle, but probably you can just break stuff like that for normal game animations.

ivanlyw

Notink said:

Hi @ivanlyw ^^

I'm not a pro in rigging but I found this animation reel from Mass Effect 2 and as you can see the shoulder's armor is always separated to move independently from the rest of the armor. Maybe you could clearly separate the shoulder piece by changing a bit the design or you can do everything with soft parts. I hope that it helps

Thats definitely a helpful tip there! Thanks alot! @Notink

Notink

ivanlyw said:

Notink said:

Hi @ivanlyw ^^

I'm not a pro in rigging but I found this animation reel from Mass Effect 2 and as you can see the shoulder's armor is always separated to move independently from the rest of the armor. Maybe you could clearly separate the shoulder piece by changing a bit the design or you can do everything with soft parts. I hope that it helps

Thats definitely a helpful tip there! Thanks alot! @Notink

I'm happy that it helped you ^^ good luck for your project !

rollin

• As already said: The shoulders are problematic. It would be better if the hard-suit elements would float above the arm. 
• Also the side panels of the legs will move into the hips when spreading the legs far enough. Also these hip-plates will move a bit awkwards when kept rigid as they move with the upper legs but extend above the hip joint.
• If twisting the arm is restricted to only the hand (as the whole lower arm seems rigid) you need enough bones and edge loops there to avoid mesh pinching when rotating more then around 45 degrees.
• Not sure about the feet. Imo they require some cut along the ankle joint if they should be rigid.
• And rotating the head is probable not possible until you also add additional helper bones and enough edge loops because the neck is to big.

At least that's the first stuff I see when glancing over it.

carvuliero

You don't have to invent anything groundbreaking  I assume you have seen medieval armor ,ppl have solve all of your problems long time ago stick to that and you be in pretty good shape

Lets start from bottom :

- lacking functioning ball of the foot  [1] she be walking like a robot without it

- need of soft band around ankle  [2] keeping balance and walking on uneven terrane without ankles will be tricky

- you haven't giving me side view so are you sure knee can fold on it self without any penetrations ?

- imagine her making a side split where should this piece end up ? [3]

- this area will be nightmare to paint weights [4]

- waist you need at least 3 edge loops to make it work[5] waist line + one above one below at best right now she can flex forward

-forearm has to rotate 180 degree or more  [6]

- shoulder think of her chest armor as of tank top design you will need separate shoulder piece and if you want full control of clavicle you will need some movement for the part that go over her trapezius so clavicle could move up

ivanlyw

carvuliero said:

You don't have to invent anything groundbreaking  I assume you have seen medieval armor ,ppl have solve all of your problems long time ago stick to that and you be in pretty good shape

Lets start from bottom :

- lacking functioning ball of the foot  [1] she be walking like a robot without it

- need of soft band around ankle  [2] keeping balance and walking on uneven terrane without ankles will be tricky

- you haven't giving me side view so are you sure knee can fold on it self without any penetrations ?

- imagine her making a side split where should this piece end up ? [3]

- this area will be nightmare to paint weights [4]

- waist you need at least 3 edge loops to make it work[5] waist line + one above one below at best right now she can flex forward

-forearm has to rotate 180 degree or more  [6]

- shoulder think of her chest armor as of tank top design you will need separate shoulder piece and if you want full control of clavicle you will need some movement for the part that go over her trapezius so clavicle could move up

Thank you for the feedback! Ill take these points into consideration and work on it further, also here are the side view for the character

carvuliero

extra notes :